Category Archives: economics

More on Taxes and Spending

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 30th July 2011

In an earlier post I presented data on income tax revenues before and after the Bush tax cuts. These revenues rose after the tax cuts and then fell with the severe economic downturn of 2008. Below is a more recent graph that shows both government revenues and spending. They seem to show that the greater spending the…


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Educational Thought of the Day – Farm Income and Dept of Agriculture

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd July 2011

US farm income in 2011 is estimated by the Department of Agriculture at $94.7 billion. The Department’s 2012 budget is 145 billion. For a comment on this wonderful achievement in the Wall Street Journal go here. Interestingly the commentator underestimates the Department’s budget. No further comment, at least by me, is needed.


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Dow Jones Falls to Zero

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd June 2011

It had to happen. According to Google finance the Dow Jones industrial index fell more than 12,000 points today – all the way to zero. But I never thought it could happen in one day. Market timing is really hard. If there was ever a time for QE 3 this is it. Stay tuned for…


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Specialization

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th June 2011

These article is adapted from a talk given at the graduation dinner for the residents of the Department of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock on May 27, 2011 Specialization is when people concentrate on one thing or another at which they are good. I will limit my remarks to…


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To Be or Not to Be

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd April 2011

To those looking to the federal government for the solutions to life’s problems, reality is is a constant lance in the side. Retirees have been told that there was no inflation in 2010 which is why there was no  cost of living increase in Social Security benefits for 2011. Yet seniors have been hit with…


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Income Tax Revenue 1995-2008

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd December 2010

This is off topic, but I thought it might be interesting to anyone following the debate about income tax rates. The graph shows that income tax revenues rose about 50% following the full implementation of the Bush tax cuts in 2003. While associations do not prove cause and effect the data show that it is possible to lower taxes and have…


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Unreasonable Health Insurance Premiums

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th August 2010

New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winner in economics Paul Krugman is famous for his dedication to fiscal stimulus as an escape from our current economic woes. No matter how much money the government pumps into the economy he wants more if the result is not what is desired. Thus he is indulging in…


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Milton Friedman’s 98th Birthday

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 1st August 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu0hMiBTJPo&feature=player_embedded#!]

Milton Friedman was born July 31, 1912. He died in 2006. This brief excerpt from a speech given decades ago is eerily apposite. It also is pure Hayek. There’s not a thought in this clip that isn’t almost word for word from Hayek.


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Hayek in Brief

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th June 2010

Frederich Hayek (1899-1992) was one of the most profound and influential thinkers of the 20th century. His most famous book is The Road to Serfdom, which though first published in 1944, is currently the #1 bestseller at Amazon.com. That this book is so widely read and so widely ignored by the leaders of the West…


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Brazil's Income Tax

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th May 2010

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton just gave a speech in which she said: The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues (the United States is), whether it’s individual, corporate, whatever the taxation forms are. Brazil has the highest tax-to-GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere…


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